Watch My World Unravel
by DragonJester
Summary: Stitches, that's what they called him, Finklestine's Monster The son of Jack and Sally finds a friend in a lonely human girl, who will help him defeat the greatest evil Halloweentown has ever known.
1. Despair

For the second time in his reign as the Pumpkin King, Jack Skellington felt helpless. The first time had occurred several years ago in what was know known among the Halloweentowners as the "Sandy Claws Fiasco," something rarely discussed among the townspeople, and only discussed between Jack and his wife Sally in the secret dark of night when no one else was around. He had proved to be the worst Santa in the universe, all his dreams of bringing joy shattering before his eyes. No one else in Halloweentown had understood his dreams, his desire to bring happiness and not terror. In a graveyard under the full moon he had lamented to no one, trying to make sense of everything. Shot from the sky, alone in the arms of a stone angel, Jack usually fiery spirit had died to a mere flicker.

And now again, that same feeling.

Alone again, _hiding_ in a graveyard this time. But this time there was no angel to catch him, he had fallen and he feared he would never find the strength to get up again. He heard the screams and watched the red glow of Halloweentown burning…and knew there was nothing he could do.

He couldn't feel the tears that he knew were trailing down his skull face, but that ache in his spirit, that space in his soul that felt like sand disappearing in the top globe of an hourglass, let him know they were there. He beat his fist against the tombstone he was crouching behind.

'How, why did this happen? Why? Why, why, why?' he asked himself silently. He knew Sally was in Halloweentown, alive? Dead? He had no way of knowing. He had left in a rush, furious, trying to find…but that didn't matter. When he returned, shadows, shadows everywhere, swallowing the townspeople and setting fire to his beloved home. He had watched in horror before deciding he could do nothing, and being killed would not help his town, or those who had been carried away by the shadows. And so he hid, hid in fear and shame. His anger and desperation finally boiled over and he threw his head back and uttered the scream that had turned grown men into simpering babies, the scream that he was famous worldwide for, a scream now tinged blood-red and grey with his fury and helplessness.

Every shadow in Halloweentown stopped its work and raised its head to listen to that wail, shuddering as it sent shivers up their backs and made their blood run cold. One cast a glance at the smoking Town Hall.

'He better know what he's doing…'

A pair of amber eyes opened as the scream drifted into the burning Town Hall. A cruel smile crossed the cold features. He had Jack Skellington right where he wanted him. The evil figure turned and walked out of the building, not minding the bodies he stepped on, his back to the former Mayor, swinging by his neck from a rope a few feet above the stage. The figure admired the handiwork of his shadows as he stood on the Town Hall stairs. Oh yes, Jack Skellington was right where he wanted him.


	2. Fink

Five Years Earlier

Stitches…that's what they called him…Finklestine's Monster…Stitches….The son of Jack and Sally Skellington…too vulnerable to participate in the Halloween festivities…stuck in his tower room in the Skellington mansion…watching everyone else have fun while he sat alone.

Fink was an oddity. Technically he shouldn't even exist…

A few years after the 'incident' (that's what they called it…they wouldn't even tell him what it meant) Jack and Sally had married and later decided they wanted children…which is a hard thing for a rag doll and a living skeleton to accomplish no matter how…enthusiastically…they were willing to try. So Sally's 'father' hit on a brilliant idea: He had created Sally, why not try to create a second one? But this time, not stuffed with leaves and sewn together, real flesh and blood (and a bit more obedient hopefully), seamless, flawless, perfect.

Thus Jack went under Dr. Finklestine's knife (or drill as it were) to extract a small amount of bone marrow. Armed with DNA and half of a genius brain and an assistant, Dr. Finklestine set out to create his masterpiece. Drawing from early conception sketches of Sally, he modeled a humanoid figure and gave it features. Implanting Jack's DNA, it began to take form and become truly Jack and Sally's child.

Ironically, it took nine months exactly to finish the creation. The thunderstorm came and charged life into the small bundle of the makings of a being. The result was a beautiful baby boy…so perfect he looked human. They named him Fink, after his 'grandfather' as Sally wanted. So Fink Skellington came home to stay in the mansion with his family. Everything went fine for a few months. Fink was healthy, his grandfather made sure of that with regular checkups and examinations every few days in the beginning, then every few weeks. Jack and Sally were thrilled to have their son, their little one. When he learned how to walk, Jack began to teach him how to scare…and it was then the trouble started.

It was just a little fall, a little cut; Jack had been too good at scaring his little boy during a lesson and Fink had fallen backwards in the yard. It was just a little cut on his knee…nothing a band-aide and a kiss from his mommy to make it feel better couldn't fix, right? Then something went horribly wrong. The little cut began to grow during the night… not wider, but longer. It wrapped around Fink's small body, criss-crossing its way across his back and stomach and etching a red line diagonally across his perfect little face…

Dr. Finklestine examined him over and over…coming up with nothing. Though the red lines didn't seem to hurt Fink, every move the boy made opened the cuts wider and wider causing him to lose blood at an alarming rate. So his grandfather sewed the cuts up…

Stitches...that's what they called him…Stitches…Finklestine's Monster…

He couldn't play with the other children of Halloweentown, there was too much of a chance he would fall and split open. He was forbidden to attend the Halloween celebrations, he could be jostled apart. Sally took good care of her little boy, her treasure, but Jack…Jack faded into the shadows to watch the boy he hoped could take his place one day as the Pumpkin King being babied by his mother and forbidden to watch his father perform his art. It wasn't that Jack didn't love his son dearly…it was that he didn't know how to cope with his son's condition…and so he avoided it, watching his son grow, being silently proud of him for every small step he took to overcoming the stitches on his life.

As for Fink himself, he got along as well as a young boy should. He was really quite happy up until he was twelve years old.

He never really minded the extra attention the whole town seemed to give him. It was bothersome at times, but not intrusive. He looked up to his father, wanting only to please him and make him proud. The two shared a sort of distant bond, one much stronger than the one he had with his loving mother. Every bit of time that Jack spent with his son was heaven to the little boy. Fink cherished especially those few moments in his young heart when his father would actually touch him…lightly stroke his hair as he put him to sleep, place a hand on his shoulder to commend him for winning an award in school, and once…just once…a hug when Fink had discovered Jack's hidden stash of Christmas books and asked to be read the stories. Everything would have been perfect.

Except for the inevitable occurrence of a meeting with the former 'Boogie's Boys.'

Several years Fink's seniors, the ex-henchmen of the late Oogie Boogie latched onto the poor boy like leeches. At first, most would think they truly had it in for little Fink. But as everyone knows with those three, they really don't _mean_ to hurt. The world is just all one big game. And it just so happened that Fink was great for a game of ' Who Can Pop Him First?' Of course, Jack put a quick end to THAT game, but it made Fink all the more positively irresistible as a plaything. Lock, Shock, and Barrel began sneaking Fink out of his house at night to perform mischievous acts on unsuspecting townspeople and to just generally mess around.

Fink, being new to this 'hanging out' thing, found his new friends positively irresistible as well. He began to plan sneak outs on his own, as well as coming up with fun things to do around town to slake the other three's insatiable thirst for mischief. The others for their part were impressed with their handiwork and began to look on their younger friend as more than a plaything, but as a member of their elite posse.

And so things went until Halloween of Fink's twelfth year.

Lock, Shock, and Barrel had actually managed to secure an integral part in that year's Halloween festivities. They of course, assumed Fink was going to come too. It was then that Fink decided it was time for him to go to the Halloween party. Upon making this announcement to his parents, Jack and Sally both shut it down with such ferocity that Fink was left stunned and speechless for several minutes, pondering what in the world was wrong with him that he couldn't participate in the town's biggest happening of the year. It didn't make matters any better when Fink told his parents that he was sure nothing would happen to him, as he had been climbing out the tower window nearly every night to play with Lock, Shock, and Barrel. With that, Jack exploded into rage, swearing that he would strangle every last one of those little &# (here Jack proceeds to demonstrate his knowledge of 'sentence enhancers') and ordered that Fink was to sit in his room until further notice. Jack and Sally then left for the celebration, promising an edict of punishment the next morning.

Up in his room, Fink cried alone until Lock threw a pebble at his window. Letting his 'sneak ladder' out of his window, he climbed down to his friends.

"Well, come one, get ready! We've got scaring to do!" Lock said excitedly. Shock and Barrel nodded enthusiastically, both pulling a wagon full of various devices to terrify with. Fink looked at them with red eyes.

"I can't go…" He mumbled.

"What!" All three chorused. Fink tried to stifle a sniffle.

"Whadda mean you can't come! It's Halloween!" Shock shouted in disgust, letting go of the wagon to put her hands on her hips indignantly. Barrel, unable to support the weight of the wagon by himself, was suddenly pulled down with a "yaagh!" as the wagon slid into the stone wall surrounding the Skellington's yard. Shock and Lock took no notice.

"What's wrong with you? How can you not come to Halloween?" Lock said, getting into Fink's face.

"Yeah, let off you little baby crying and let's go!" Shock pulled Fink's sleeve towards the wagon where Barrel was just getting up. Lock and Shock began to regale Fink with past Halloween glories in hopes of convincing him to go. Loads of candy, scaring little kids, seeing his dad at the head of the celebration in his element. Fink shook them off and backed towards the ladder.

"Guys, I just can't…Dad would-" Shock finally had it. He had never liked not getting his way, and Fink wasn't giving him his way.

"Dad would what Stitches?" To his credit, Lock didn't mean to hurt Fink as badly as he did. Fink was his friend after all. Still, Fink winced at the cruel insult, the first name the three had ever called him. Lock, knowing he had touched a weak spot, plowed on.

"Stupid Stitches can't even do anything without his Mommy making sure he's all tied up tight! Wouldn't want you to spill guts everywhere!"

"Don't split your stitches, Stitches!" Shock jumped in. "Just come on, you go out with us every night, why is this any different?" Barrel, looking dumbly between the two and then straight at Fink, gave a dumb smile.

"Yeah come on Finklestine's Monster!" Lock and Shock gasped and turned in horror to Barrel. Barrel's eyes widened with the realization of what he had just said. Fink stood stone still, dead still, hands clenched at his sides so tightly that the stitches across his knuckles ripped and his eternal cuts began to bleed. For a short time, none of them moved. Fink's eyes closed tight…

Not everyone in town had been alright with Jack and Sally's 'child'.

He remembered hearing his parents downstairs as he lay awake in bed:

"Jack, do you hear what they are calling him?"

"Sally, rest assured, I will not let this go on!"

"Did you see what they wrote on our fence, Jack?"

"Sally, when I find the little ingrates who did that-"

"'Finklestine's Monster' Jack, that's what they're calling your son, Finklestine's Monster!"

Finklestine's Monster…

Fink's eyes welled up with tears more searing than his father's anger had been. He opened his eyes and glared at the three in from of him, and then he ran. Pushing past Shock and Lock he ran out of the gate.

"Fink!" Shock called after him. Lock turned a burning eye on Barrel.

"You stupid little sonava-" Before pouncing on him and proceeding to beat him to a pulp. Shock just stood staring after Fink.

Fink ran. Avoiding the festivities, he ran into the graveyard, unknowingly following his father's path. He stopped and leaned on a tombstone, out of breath but still furious. Anger and hatred boil up inside of him. He looked at his blood-streamed hands.

Stitches…that's what they called him…Stitches…Finklestine's Monster…

"Stupid cuts, stupid little red lines, stupid STITCHES!" He screamed at the non-responsive red cracks in his skin. He stumbled forward, hot tears still streaming down him face. He lay in the dust of the graveyard, crushing dead leaves in his fists as he cried alone. He lifted his head slowly, still sobbing.

There, a little ways away from where he lay was a cave. A hiding place, a refuge from the names. He got up slowly and walked towards it. He peered into the gloomy darkness, then taking one look back over his shoulder, he plunged inside.


	3. Elle

On the Other Side of the Cave

She could hear the others close on her tail.

She pedaled harder and faster, trying to keep a good distance ahead of the four other children who were trying to chase her down. She panted for breathe, gripping the handlebars of her bike, glancing back only when she turned corners. She thanked her lucky stars for the second time that night that the usual snow-heavy weather of an Aiken October had not come, leaving the streets clear of ice and snowdrifts, and her free to speed on as fast as she possible could.

The catcalls reached her ears, urging her to keep going though it felt like her chest was going to burst if she didn't stop.

"Freaky clown! Freaky clown come and do some tricks for us!" It was Bobby, Bobby Trielle and his little gang of bullies; Monica, Jamie, and Kent. All heartless, all too willing to do something like throw stones at somebody they hated.

"I'm gonna kill you for that, clown!" Jamie shouted

"Nobody hits my friends and gets away with it!" Monica chimed in

"We're gonna catch you Elle, you can't run away!" Kent creamed at her back.

They always played to hurt. And right now they wanted to hurt Elle.

Elle Morgan was twelve years old and she liked Trick-or-Treating. But middle schoolers are much too old to trick-or-treating. In fact, Elle Morgan did a lot of things that middle schoolers didn't do. She still liked to read stories about magic and fantasy, and she didn't like unhappy endings. She had never seen a PG-13 movie before, and she still lowered her voice secretively and shamefully like a third-grader when she was forced to mention the word "s-e-x…" Elle Morgan was just about the babiest middle schooler Bobby Trielle and his gang had ever met. Bobby Trielle wanted nothing more then to be grown up and drive a car and make lots of money like his dad, Robert Trielle told him he someday soon would. He considered himself more grown-up than any of the kids in his gang and especially more so than Elle Morgan.

So when Elle Morgan had been invited to a special grown-up dinner with the mayor of Aiken as a reward for good grades, Bobby Trielle flipped his lid.

From then on, Elle was Bobby's sworn enemy. Hence the desperate chase taking place around the city streets of Aiken. Elle, once again unwittingly drew out the wrath of Bobby Trielle as she donned her red and blue jester costume on October 31 and prepared to trick-or-treat with the best.

Elle had worked for weeks on the costume. She had learned to sew from her grandmother and the jester costume was her finest piece of work yet. She had chose red and blue satiny material at the fabric store, found the perfect pattern, and even found small bells to attach to the typical jester's hat that she now clenched desperately in her hand as she tried to escape Bobby on her bike.

Catching Elle on a deserted street Bobby and his gang had jumped her with scissors, shredding the beautiful costume and laughing mercilessly. Elle squeezed her eyes shut and covered her ears with her hands, crouching down against a brick wall. She tried to shut out the horrible ripping, tearing sounds and the cruel laughter as she knew her prize creation was being destroyed. As Bobby's gang backed up to admire their handiwork, Elle had time to assess the damage. The costume was irreparable. The tears could be sewn, but the costume would never again be the perfect creation that it had once been.

Elle lost it.

She had jumped up, her half-filled candy bag forgotten on the ground, and flung herself into the middle of the gang, her small fists whirling, striking at whatever she could. Blind luck (good or bad) was with her as one of her fists hit home, right across Jamie's nose. He screamed as the blood began flowing out from between his fingers as he covered his nose with his hands.

Elle had jumped on her bike and began fleeing. And they chased her.

Elle was beginning to get desperate. She needed to find a place to hide NOW or else she's get to weary that she's fall and then they'd have her. She looked side to side as she zoomed around a corner, trying to find a refuge. Luck again, (good or bad) was with her as the open gate of a cemetery presented itself and beckoned in the wind. Elle needed no further urging.

She raced in and slid to a stop, leaping behind a tombstone. For a few breathless moments she huddled there. Then she heard the others pass the gate on their bikes. Elle relaxed and forced herself to breathe. She sat down wearily and looked at her ruined costume. Tears stung her eyes as she drew a spool of red thread and a needle out of the jeans she was wearing under the costume. She began to slowly stitch up the gashes in the right pant leg of the suit.

"Silly clown." Elle froze. It was them. They had surrounded her. Elle looked up at them, terrified. Each held a good-sized rock.

"Stupid Stitches the Clown, you can't fix yourself." Monica smirked.

"Here's for Jamie's nose!" Bobby shouted as they all pulled back their arms ready to fire. Elle shut her eyes and waited, a small whimper escaping her mouth.

Suddenly, there was a sound behind Bobby's gang like the opening of the doors of Hell, a screeching, gravely, stone on metal sound.

Elle's eyes flew open and the stones dropped out of the other children's hands as they swung around toward the origin of the hellish sound. They all stared as the grave opposite them began to move.

It was configured to look like stone doors that lead to a storm cellar. There was a stone angel overlooking the doors reading a stone book which lay open in her arms. The doors below her feet were beginning to open.

The angel shook as the doors shuddered and was turned, so that she look as though she was joining the stunned children in awaiting what would come out of the doors.

Elle jumped as the doors were shoved roughly open by an unseen force, slamming against the neighboring tombstones with a sound like a hammer on an anvil. Then the graveyard stood silent.

The empty door way in to the ground was lit with an eerie reddish-orange glow. Then a shadowy silhouette rose from inside the gaping hole. Bobby and his gang stiffened in absolute terror. Elle just sat staring, her mouth hanging open. The figure stepped out one to stone ledge of the grave. In the icy- blue moonlight, they could all see the horrible criss-crossed stitches running the whole length of the figure's body, across its face, down its arms, running into the tousled reddish-brown hair atop its head.

The figure stared back at them. Bobby and his friends stood in abject fear, shaking in their shoes. The figure stood perched on the grave it had just left. Elle pushed her back up against the tombstone she had hid behind. For a few seconds, none of them moved. Silence reigned in the cemetery.

Then from across the small distance than separated them, Elle's eyes met with the shadowed pockets on the figures face were the eyes hid, and she was not afraid anymore. The figure seemed to ease a bit too, and broke the silence.

"Where-?" That was all it could get out before Bobby and his friends simultaneously screamed and turned to race out the cemetery gate, pushing and tripping each other to escape the horrible demon they had seen. They clambered aboard their bikes and sped off, leaving Elle alone to face the thing from the grave.

Elle slowly stood up, her spool of thread and needle still in her hand, and walked towards the figure.

Seeing the thread, the thing lifted up its hands and peered at its knuckles, then held them out to Elle, clenched into fists. Elle stopped dead, only a fingertip's distance away from the bloody hands.

The figure stepped down to her, still holding its clenched fists between them at chin-height.

"Can you sew me up please? My mom will be mad if she finds out I ripped my stitches. Please?"


	4. Sewing

Elle blinked, unsure of what she had just heard.

"Do…what?" She asked uncertainly. The mysterious boy in front of her pushed his hands closer to her face, suddenly illuminating them in a patch of moonlight. Elle recoiled, not so much from fear but from the adrenaline pumping through her system.

"My hands…I got mad and the stitches popped. Mom will get mad at me, so I can't ask her to do it. Besides, if she found out I left the house when she and dad get back from the Halloween parade…" He paused and shuddered. "Well I might as well rip out ALL my stitches if she finds that out."

Elle stared at the strange boy. 'What on earth is he talking about!' Her mind asked wildly. Then it hit her.

"I guess you're not…from…earth, are you?" Duh. The boy looked at her strangely.

"Of course I'm from earth!" he said, his voice tinged with annoyance. "I just need some one to sew me up!" Elle still stood there looking at him. An awkward silence settled between them.

"But…but won't that hurt?" Elle asked him the obvious. "I mean, shouldn't you go to a hospital?" She lifted a finger and ran it hesitantly through the air above a line of stitches on his lower arm. She looked at them with awe. Her voice was soft with pity.

"How did you do this?" She asked quietly. The boy tilted him head in confusion.

"I've always been this way. Since…well since I was very little. My mom's like this too. But grandpa sewed her together. He made me too, but he didn't sew me. The cuts just grew and then he sewed me up." Elle blanched and stared. The boy shrugged and looked desperate.

"Listen, apparently you don't understand. Just sew me up and I'll explain."

Elle shrugged in defeat and motioned for him to sit down. He walked over to her, still hidden in the shadows of the dark night, and settled himself next to her. He extended his right hand for her to sew. Elle sat next to him and slowly lifted her hands to take his. She was shocked at the feel of his skin. It didn't feel quite like human skin. It was like…she felt her costume slide down her arm. Like the satin of her costume. It was like cloth.

She unloosed several loops of thread from around the spool and re-threaded her needle. She made as if she was going to pierce his skin, then thought better of it and putting her needle through her sleeve took her jester's hat and moved to wipe away the blood on his hand. The boy looked at it a moment before realizing what it was. He stopped her.

"Wait, I've got a handkerchief. Don't ruin your hat." Elle smiled grimly.

"The rest of my costume's already ruined. I'll never be able to wear it again anyways." With that she wiped off the blood and put some pressure on the cut. Then she looked up at him.

"Are you sure this won't hurt?" The boy shook his head.

"It never does. Mom usually does it for me though. How did your costume get ruined?" Elle removed the cloth hat from his hand. The bleeding had stopped somewhat and she retrieved her needle and prepared herself to sew up his hand.

"Those kids you saw cut it up. This won't hurt right?" The boy groaned and shook his head.

"No!" He said. Elle swallowed. Placing the needle on his skin, took a deep breath, closed her eyes and pushed the needle through. She opened her eyes. The boy just shrugged.

"See? Nothing. It doesn't hurt." Elle gave a relieved sigh and shakily set about making the stitches. Fink watched her work in silence for a while.

"By the way," he said quietly, "what's your name?" Elle stopped moving her needle and looked up at him.

"Elle." She said. "Morgan." She added as an afterthought. The boy smiled.

"I'm Fink Skellington. Pleased to meet you. I would shake your hand but you've already got mine." He said. Elle giggled.

"I guess so." She was beginning to relax after the initial shock of watching herself sewing someone's hand up.

"So, how did this happen?" She asked. Fink grimaced.

"I was made by my grandfather in his lab. My mom and dad couldn't have kids…the normal way, so my grandpa decided to make me for them. Kinda like he made my mom, but I was going to be more real." Elle glanced at him.

"Real? What do you mean?"

"Well, technically my mom is nothing more than some clothe sewn together and stuffed with leaves." Elle stopped her work and stared at him.

"What?" He asked innocently. "Well she is. He electrocuted her and she came to life. She was his very first creation with a mind." Elle still looked at him.

"What? Stuff like that happens in Halloweentown." Elle shook her head.

"Halloween…town?" Fink face-faulted.

"Oh I forgot, humans don't know about Halloweentown. Well it's a really cool place…"

Fink spent the next hour explaining Halloweentown to Elle. By the time he had told her everything ending with why he had run away, she had long ago finished sewing his hands and sat entranced by his story.

"They called you a monster? That's horrible! Being a little patched up doesn't make you a monster!" Fink looked at her.

"You were patching up your costume when I got here, but you say its ruined and you'll never wear it again." Elle sat stunned at herself. Then she shook her head.

"I didn't mean that. I was just mad because Bobby Trielle and his gang ripped it up.

It was the best thing I had ever made and they destroyed it in a few minutes. But I'm not going to throw it away. " She patted the blood-stained hat fondly. "I'll keep it forever."

She looked up at Fink. "Besides, you're a good person. What does anybody care how you were born or how you look?" Fink looked downcast.

"Because it means I can't participate in Halloween. Ever. Not in the parades. Mom lets me watch from in my tower or from the sidelines sometimes, but I'll never be like my dad."

"The Pumpkin King, right?"

"Yeah…" Fink sighed. "I bet they're worried about me. They'd be home now. I hope Lock, Shock and Barrel have hid themselves really well, or my dad'll kill them." Elle looked at his sad face.

"Are you going to go home?" She asked. Fink was silent for a while.

"I don't know…I just don't know." Elle looked away from him and bit on her tongue, a little habit she had when she was thinking or concerned. Then she brightened.

"Hey, wanna get some ice-cream?" Fink looked up at her strangely.

"Get what?" Elle stared at him in shock.

"You've got to be kidding me!" She grabbed his hands and stood him up and began pulling him to the cemetery gate.

Standing outside the graveyard walls, they stopped and looked around; making sure no one was around to see them. Standing in the glow of a streetlight, they were rewarded with the first true good looks at each other.

Elle was shocked to meet hazel-green eyes peering at her around a jagged cut that ran diagonally across his face. The red line stood out against the pale, pale skin; running up into his hair and over his left ear. The other end of the line wrapped itself down his chin and into his shirt down his back. His clothes were simple, but elegant and appropriately orange and black for Halloween. He wore an orange button-down, long-sleeved shirt that was partially untucked and rolled up to his elbows. His black pants were a strange but effective blend of casual and formal which hung loosely about his attractive hips. Elle noticed for the first time that he was also toting a black jacket stitched with white thread and covered with random zippers. His reddish-brown hair fell messily around his face and ears, stopping just below his eyebrows. Elle was enchanted; the light around Fink's head seemed to frame him like a halo, some otherworldly aura surrounding the otherworldly Prince of Halloweentown.

In other words, Elle had it bad.

Of course, said Prince could not take his eyes off of Elle.

Her dark brown hair was pulled back into a half-ponytail that had been slightly frazzled from her chase, leaving little wisps of hair framing her delicate face. She was petite, a few inches shorted than he was, and all of her features were small and in a word (that Fink said to himself secretly), adorable. Her little nose was sprinkled with freckles and her rouge mouth was perfectly bow-shaped. Her once-perfect jester's costume hung off of her slender body, giving glimpses of white hip-hugger jeans tied with a thick silver ribbon. She wore a pink collared shirt with a cat embroidered below her right shoulder. She was like a tiny glass figure catching the light of the streetlight and sending it in to a thousand tiny sparkles that hovered around her head. (Said Prince was smitten. Poor thing had no chance.)

But what captured Fink's gaze more than anything were Elle's eyes. Unconscious of what he was doing, Fink reached a hand up to caress her face.

"Your eyes…you have blue eyes." Elle barely heard him.

'Oh…good Lord…he's TOUCHING me!' She was mentally bouncing off the walls inside of her head, singing a dance version of "A Moment like This."

Fink for his part was lost in the blue pools of Elle's eyes.

"No one in Halloweentown has blue eyes. I've never seen anything like them… They're beautiful…"

Ice-cream was completely forgotten as Elle and Fink stood on the street under the light, gazing into each other's eyes.

Three pairs of eyes peered over the lip of the open grave, staring in utter shock at the two mangled, angelic figures.

"What the f-!" Shock could hardly speak. Barrel just sat dumbly staring out of the one eye that wasn't swollen shut, his bleeding mouth hanging open. Shock was suddenly overwhelmed with that feeling that had started creeping up on her when she was faced with. She uttered a sweet sigh, completely happy for her friend. Barrel scrunched up his nose and stared at her, suddenly throwing his head back with a small 'Ow' and pinched his nose as the scrunching caused it to start bleeding again.

Lock stood behind them, his arms akimbo, his gaze trained on Fink's hand resting on Elle's cheek, his mouth set in a grim line. His devil tail began to twitch as Elle blushed and smiled as Fink lowered his hand and did the same. Fink offered Elle his arm and they walked across the street. Lock's yellow eyes flickered as he looked Elle up and down as she led Fink around a corner. He turned abruptly and started walking back down the tunnel.

"Let's go."

* * *

Yes, this was sappy. But they're in loooove! And what's buggin Lock? Thanx to you guys who reviewed. I hope you like this chapter. I'll update ASAP.  
-DragonJester 


	5. Goodbye and Reveries

Fink and Elle spent a wonderful Halloween evening together, staying up way past both of their bedtimes. At about 3:00 am Fink tumbled back into the grave with the stone angel and turned to wave goodbye to his newfound friend.

"I hop you're mom and dad won't get as ad at you as my parents are going to get at me." He said with a sheepish grin. Elle shrugged.

"If they do, our groundings will be long over by the time Halloween rolls around again. Though I hope you'll find a way to get back here before then." Both of them had reluctantly admitted that the only time Fink would be able to visit again would be next Halloween. Fink knew that his parents never left him alone for any long enough time to escape and see Elle except on Halloween, and even then he couldn't stay for that long.

"Maybe I'll find a way…" Fink said hopefully. Elle nodded.

"It'll be worth the wait." She said cheerily. She began to heave one of the grave's stone doors shut. Fink lifted up him arms to help her ease the weight into place. Elle placed her hands on the other door and stopped, not wanting to say goodbye. Fink stood looking up at her from the grave, smiling comfortingly.

"Maybe this year will go by fast huh?" Elle smiled back at him, lifting the door.

"Yeah…maybe it will." She paused halfway to shutting the door. "You won't forget me will you? I mean…you will come back, right?" Fink pushed the door back fully open and jumped out of the grave, startling Elle. He held her perfect little hand in his stitched one, the new bright red thread she had used to sew him up shining between them.

"I could not forget you, Elle. I'm coming back." Elle stood still for a minute, then let go of his hand and began to undo the long silver ribbon she was using as a belt. She pulled it from around her waist and held up his hand.

"Just to make sure you won't forget," She began looping the ribbon about his hand and wrist, almost so it looked like a bandage on his cut skin. She tied it off and looked at him satisfied. "This'll remind you." Fink chuckled at her and nodded.

"Of course." He said and stepped back into the grave. Elle pulled the door over the hole, watching the Fink's face disappearing into shadow.

"Bye…" She said softly. Fink waved to her with his silver-bandaged hand.

"Bye…" The door thudded closed and both stood staring through the stone at each other. Then the spell was broken and they both turned back to walk home. Elle picked up her discarded bike from where it lay on the earthy floor of the graveyard. She pedaled out of the gate and paused in the lamplight just as the first snowflakes were beginning to fall on her upturned face…

Fink walked down the tunnel to the cave opening in the other graveyard at the end. Halloweentown was still glowing from the Halloween fires and the torches that lined the parade route. He could still here a few residents who had imbibed too much Halloween wine singing the famous Pumpkin Song drunkenly in the streets. He looked up at the familiar stars above his head. He was home.

Like his mother had done years before him (thought he did not know it) he picked a flower and climbed the curled hill, sitting on its crest. He twirled the flower around between two fingers, staring past it to the lights of Halloweentown.

So he was home, but he was still on the outside, the same as when he had entered the human world. And he had come back…Why had he done that? He had wanted to stay with Elle, and Elle had wanted him to stay. Then why?

Fink thought hard. What had made him come back? What was here for him?

'Your parents.' He thought. His parents…they kept him practically locked up like a prisoner. Then why? His parents…his mother and his….father…

Of course…He was his father's son; Halloween was in his blood, his bone, even in his tattered flesh. Why couldn't he take part in Halloween? His…condition… Yes but it takes a whole year to plan the parties, parades, tricks, treats, scares….Ah yes…he now understood his father's love for scaring, Bobby's gang had helped him see that. Why couldn't he still be the Pumpkin Prince?

"That's right, I AM the Pumpkin Prince!" He shouted to himself in his growing frenzy of excitement. Then he let out a cackle, the cackle his father was famous for.

In his bed in Halloweentown where his wife had sent him while they waited for Fink to reappear, Jack awoke with a start. He could have sworn he heard… Jack threw back the covers and rushed downstairs.

Fink stood atop the curled hill, triumphant. Yes Halloween was in his blood, and this would be the last he took no part in it. He wouldn't be just watching the festivities anymore; in fact he wouldn't even be in Halloweentown for the festivities.

But he would make the festivities.

Fink dropped the flower and began walking back to his house through the graveyard.

'I'm finally going to make my parents proud. My father proud.' He thought as he walked up the street to his house. 'Finally.'

Jack walked out on the landing to greet his son, but Fink spoke before his father did.

"Dad, I've got some great ideas for next Halloween." Sally joined Jack at the door.

"What?" She said, "Fink, where have you been? We've been so worried-"

"I was just out thinking." He turned to Jack. "Dad, I want to help you make Halloween next year." He pulled his father in the door. "I wanted to show you my ideas. Come on!" Jack looked back at Sally in confusion as he was pulled into the dinning room. Sally, equally confused, shrugged and shut the door.

Fink sat his father down and found some paper and pencils, sketching his ideas.

"Now I was thinking that-" Jack sat in amazement as his son drew him a perfectly terrifying Halloween. He began to smile his wide skeleton grin again. Deep within his boney heart, pride in his son began to grow.

Sally stood in the dinning room doorway, not hearing a thing Fink was saying. She was staring at his hands as they flew over the paper. She knew that her neither Dr. Finklestine nor herself had had to stitch Fink up in over three months…and that neither of them had used anything but black thread… but somehow the cuts across Fink's knuckles were sewn with small, delicate stitches of candy-red thread…

* * *

Lock had walked calmly back down the tunnel into the Halloweentown graveyard. He walked calmly, but his whole inside was churning with fury. Shock and Barrel followed him at a distance, both silently wondering what was wrong with him. Lock walked straight toward the tree house where they still lived, reaching it before the others did. As soon as he was out of their sight in the darkened house, he rushed to the slide he had invented to travel down to the dark lair of the late Oogie Boogie and slid down into the oppressive darkness.

Lock had taken the whole basement portion of the tree house as his own after Oogie's defeat by the Pumpkin King. The tricks that the monster had hidden in the walls and floor and the torture devices sat rusted and broken around the room. The only thing that stood in the room was the platform that Oogie had planned to tip Santa and Sally into the molten pot with. Lock had covered it with an old sheet and several tattered pillows, using it as a bed. It was here that he flopped down and rolled onto his back, staring at the ceiling.

Only from that vantage point could anyone see what Lock had been doing with himself for the past several years since Oogie's death and maybe before that, but no one would know that until too late.

Lock reached under a pillow and fished out an old CD player, a prize he had won from a successful scare in the human world. He put on the headphone and blasted some from of hard rock, trying not to think about the feelings surging in him.

'They were right…they were right damn it…He did find the human world, he found that girl…geez that girl… How did they know? How?' His thoughts were scattered and they made him feeling like his flesh were burning.

'That girl…what did that guy call her? Elle? My God…and Fink…'Lock's thoughts turned dark.

'Fink always gets everything doesn't he? Little Pumpkin Prince, huh? Little Pumpkin Prick always gets everything he wants. He's just like us, just like me and Shock and Barrel, but everybody wants him….nobody wants us…nobody wants me…' He shoved his face into the pillow to stop the tears that were threatening to fall. Suddenly he felt a hand on his shoulder. He jumped and turned over fast.

It was Shock. Lock sighed and ripped off his headphones.

"What do you want?" He asked roughly, ashamed that she had caught him when he was about to cry. Shock looked at him.

"I…I was just coming to check on you…you ran in here pretty fast, I thought something might be wrong." Lock bit his tongue.

"Of course not. I just was tired. Now go away." He picked up his headphones again. Shock didn't leave.

"Well, if you want to talk-"

"I don't! Now go away!" Lock kicked a lever near his bed. A pendulum blade swung out of the ceiling in a shower of dust and swung towards Shock. She jumped out of the way as it nearly missed her and ran towards the ladder that led out of the basement, climbing it in record time.

Lock watched her go, and then looked at the pendulum blade as it started swinging slowly to a stop.

'Hmm…Got to remember that one works,' Lock thought to himself. He put his headphones back on and lay down again, his thoughts turning to Elle.

'I wonder what she was wearing under that costume…'

* * *

Shock walked back into the room that she and Barrel shared. Barrel was on his stomach on his twin bed eating candy from his bag and reading a comic book he had no doubt stolen from one of his scare victims. His eye was still swollen shut and he had stuffed tissue paper up his bleeding nose. His shirt was spotted with blood.

"B, give me your shirt and I'll wash it." Barrel looked up at her and then sat up and handed her his shirt. Shock smiled at him as he went back to stuffing his face and reading. She tossed his shirt into the old tub and began filling it with water.

As the tub filled, Shock took of her witch's hat and hung it on her own bed across the room from Barrel's. She grabbed a stretchy hair tie and pulled her wiry black hair into a shaggy ponytail. She unlaced her black knee-high boots and placed them beside her bed.

She turned off the tub water and grabbed a chunk of soap resting on the bottom of the tub and began washing Barrel's shirt.

She thought about Lock's behavior. He was getting more and more like this. Shock remembered when he had been sort of the undisputed leader of their little trio, back before they knew you could grow out of trick-or-treating. Everything had been great.

Shock had never really wanted to be a real witch. She joined the coven in Halloweentown just long enough to learn a few spells and then she had stopped going to meetings. She had grown up a very pretty girl, but the whole coven couldn't stand her. She rarely went into town at all unless it was to see Fink or to buy medicine for Lock and Barrel.

She glanced up from her washing at Barrel. She had become mommy to them both, Lock and him. Barrel had always been in awe of Jack Skellington, hence his usual costume choice. He had been asked by Jack to become his apprentice, to learn the trade of the scare and perhaps one day, to take over as Pumpkin King. That was before Fink was born. Barrel had not complained about his fate, but took it quietly. No one ever knew that he had been so upset about it, not until shock heard him crying one night. The two had become very close after that. Lock had nowhere else to go when he started to grow up, so he settled for staying with Shock and Barrel. The three of them had long ago given up the title of Halloween's Best Trick-or-Treaters. They really had nothing to do, nowhere to go.

And then Jack had come and recruited them for the Halloween parades. It was a chance to go back and live in the spirit of Halloween again, to pretend that they could be somewhere and matter to somebody.

But Shock was content taking care of 'her boys', as she thought of them. She began to worry about silly things like bloody shirts and scraped knees and good food. And now she was worried about Lock. Something was up. But she could do nothing. In his eyes, She and Barrel had each other and he had no one.

No one wanted a little devil-boy.

No one except Lock's new friends.

No one except the shadow's master.

But no one, not even Lock, would find out why until it was too late.

* * *

Why does Lock have a CD player? cuz I said so! Anywho, thanx to my reviewers, you guys are great! The next chapter should jump ahead if not just a few years, the whole five to the real action! What is Lock up to? And what's going to happen to our friends! Heehee, you'll just have to wait. 


	6. Lock's Destiny

The shadow figure crept down the hallway leading the demon-boy to…where ever they were going…

Lock looked around him at the hallway. He had never been allowed down here. He had been allowed to roam freely on the upper levels of the catacombs, where all the shadows congregated and lived, if they lived by his definition. Occasionally Lock had been granted an interview behind a screen with the leader of the shadows, but that strange specter had disappeared back down into the lower levels where Lock was barred from going.

The walls of the underground tunnel were blackish stone, lit with every now and again with wall sconces that burned with green fire. In the green patches of light, Lock could see the walls carved with one continuous wall mural carved into the rock.

On it were scenes of people, more specifically the citizens of Halloweentown. Lock recognized various people from his school history books that he had thumbed through in a fit of boredom in detention. As they walked further down the catacombs, there were more and more figures that began to look vaguely familiar to him. Yeah…they were starting to look real familiar…like those three little figures right there…

Lock stopped dead in his tracks.

It WAS them, him, him and his friends, when they were little. Lock stared at the three figures. Every detail was perfect, right down to Shock's hair and his own bitty tail as it had been back then. Lock stared in wonder and confusion.

"Better hurry, boy…" Lock jerked back, he hadn't realized he had come so close to the wall. "Zentalis asked for you specifically. Best not keep him waiting." Lock faced the shadow that had stopped to wait for him, not even turning back when he talked to him.

"How…?" He began, but the shadow started moving again.

"Don't ask questions, boy. If Zentalis chooses to reveal things, he will reveal them. As he always has. Now keep walking." Lock scowled after him.

'Bitchy ghosts…" Lock thought as he walked on. He let his gaze trail over the carvings. He saw himself and his friends encounter all the things he knew had happened. He even saw them capturing Santa and bringing him to Jack. He saw everything that had happened after that fateful year as well, Shock's rejection of the coven, Barrel's shame at being replaced as Jack's apprentice, Fink's birth…the fight that led him to find Elle two years ago.

He saw his past leading on and on until he saw himself being led by a smoky figure…led to…

A door. The carvings on the wall ended and there was a door. The shadow stood, or rather floated to one side of the door, waiting. Lock looked at the door and did a double take.

On a hook in the middle of the door, just in front of Lock's head hung his red devil's mask. Lock had sworn he had thrown that out years ago…no wait, hadn't he watched the damn thing burn? He reached out and took it off the hook and pulled it back to look into its empty eyes.

So hypnotized was he that he did not see the hook melt into the door. Then the door began to swing open and he turned to look inside. He walked hesitantly through the darkened portal, looking around trying to peer through the gloom that enveloped him.

Suddenly the door slammed shut, throwing Lock into total darkness. He turned around and reached his hands out to touch the door, but he only felt a cool air touch his fingers. Then a blue light began to glow from behind him. It intensified in a flash until he could see everything around him. He was standing in the middle of an immense domed hall. The door through which he had walked had completely disappeared. In fact, there were no doors at all in the hall.

The only thing that was in the room was a huge fireplace that burned with a swell of electric-blue fire. The fire emitted no heat, and burned in complete silence. The whole room was oppressively silent, and Lock was beginning to get freaked out. He turned to examine the room one more time…

When he turned back to the fireplace there were two chairs facing the blue inferno. Lock began to worry about his sanity. He stood for several minutes staring at the chairs, the mask hanging forgotten in his hand.

"Well, at last we meet face to face, Lock. I'm sure you've been looking forward to this."

Lock stiffened and crumpled the mask a little.

"Come on then, let's have a look at what you have there." Lock walked towards the silky voice hiding behind the chair. He stopped between one of the chairs, suddenly hypnotized by the blue flame. He stared at it in awe as a white hand clad in huge rings and long dark green nails extended gracefully from behind the chair to receive the mask that Lock offered him in his trance. The hand accepted it and pulled back.

"Sit, will you." It was a command, not an offer and Lock, still entranced, obeyed.

Amber eyes examined the mask with precision as the cold hands ran over the devilish grinning face.

"So, even though you tried to hide yourself with a mask, the devil still came through."

The man leaned forward to peer at Lock from around the arm of the chair.

Lock never could remember exactly what he had seen when the man looked at him, but he would never forget those eyes. The amber eyes burnt like flame and pierced him straight to his soul. The hair that framed the white face could have been nothing else but dark blue, but Lock couldn't remember how it was arranged and only later did he vaguely remember that thin gold bangles were spliced into the hair, though he couldn't remember what they looked like or what they were made of. The man was dressed in deep green, but that was all Lock could remember from that first encounter with Zentalis.

"Lock do you know why I found you out?" Lock, now only slightly entranced, shook his head no. The man sighed and smiled. Lock shuddered.

"No one has ever understood your full potential Lock. Not even that ridiculous master of yours, Oogie Boogie. No one, that is, until I found you." Lock shifted uncomfortably in his chair.

"You see Lock, no one had a place for you, no one wanted you. You were alone. I say were because as soon as you found your way to us…well you were home." Zentalis pressed his fingertips together.

"You showed promise from the minute you stumbled into our little group. You were willing to go above and beyond everyone else to gain your powers and as a result, anything else you wanted." He turned to Lock.

"Do you still remember what I showed you? That one night?" Lock nodded in silence.

"The future, boy. Your future." They sat in silence for a while. Lock finally screwed up the courage to speak.

"Everything you showed me has come true." Zentalis' eyes flickered. "But…"

"But you wish to know how the rest of what I showed you can come to pass?" Lock nodded. Zentalis closed his eyes and smiled into his hands.

"The girl…you wish for the girl." Lock swallowed and his face tinged red. Zentalis stood and walked towards the fire, clasping his hands behind his back.

"If you truly wish for this, I can make it come to pass. Everything that has already happened did so because of my influence on you yes? The son of Jack Skellington," He spoke this name with a cold hiss, "He ran after I told you to cajole him into joining the Halloween festivities. He found your girl and they have seen each other every Halloween since yes?" Lock nodded.

"And now you want assurance that the rest of what you saw will come to pass." Lock nodded again, and began to stare at his feet. Zentalis smiled secretly into the flames.

'And now it begins.' He turned his head slightly toward Lock.

"This time it might be more difficult to arrange, Lock. We might not be able to do it this time…"

"But you have to!" Lock jumped up out of his chair, his voice bursting with desperation.

"Have to, Lock?"

"I have to have Elle! That prissy-boy Fink doesn't deserve her! Everybody loves him-"

Zentalis had him right where he wanted him.

"So why can't you have some one who loves you?" Lock was stunned into silence.

"Do you want her, Lock?" Lock nodded dumbly. "Would you do anything for her?" Lock nodded again.

"Then you must do something for me, and I will make sure that she is yours." Lock sat back down and stared at the blue flames again. Silence echoed in the hall.

"Do you want her?" Zentalis asked again. Lock remained silent. Zentalis sighed. And walked back to his chair and picked up the mask.

"It's your choice, Lock. You can have her, or you can let him have her. Your decision."

He threw the mask into Lock's lap and turned back to the fire. Lock held the mask in his hands.

"You can't escape the devil, Lock. It's what you are, and what you were born to be. That's why you joined us, and that's why you will help us now. We get what we want, Lock, with or without your help." Lock stared into the empty eyes of the mask.

"And…and what do you want?"

"Halloweentown, Lock. It belongs to the Necromancers. The people of that town drove us out decades ago and now it's time for us to take it back. If you help us to do this, Lock, I will make Elle yours." Lock gripped the mask.

"My friends…Shock and Barrel. I want them to be safe. And Fink! Don't hurt Fink." Zentalis nodded.

"Fair enough, the boy doesn't pose any threat." He turned to Lock. "Very well, then, Lock. It is done. Welcome to the inner circle of the Necromancers." The mask's eyes suddenly flashed with orange light and Lock was trapped. Zentalis walked into the fireplace and turned to smile as Lock became consumed by the dark energies he had placed in the mask. Then he was engulfed in blue flames and disappeared.

Lock couldn't see anything but the burning eyes of the mask, his brain was pounding and he could almost hear his screams as something wormed its way through his mind. Something dark and terrible was peering into him and he couldn't escape. All his thoughts about his life, Shock, Barrel, anything and everything he had ever thought was being examined.

Then suddenly all was silent in his head. He blinked once, twice, and began to breathe easier. He grinned and tied the mask onto his face. His eyes twinkled red with devilish glee as the fire stared to die rapidly.

"Now I can get what I want."

The room plunged into darkness, taking Lock with it. His last words echoed into the deadly night.

"No one can stop me."


	7. Breaking Point

Phew! You guys thought you'd lost me huh? Nope, I'm still kicking! Anyway, HEre's another chapter for ya. Sorry this one is so depressing, but i tried to set up a lot of stuff to be resolved later on. Personally I like the writing I did in this one... Anywho, Enjoy!

* * *

It was Halloween again.

Elle had been waiting for it for months, ever since her damned sister had found her diary.

Cherry had meant well, to be sure, when she had run to Elle's mother and father with the open diary.

"She's crazy, Mommy! Elle's crazy!" Elle had written everything about Fink down in the little book her grandmother had given her. Ever since the first night they had met each other down in the cemetery, she had recounted everything he had said or done. She had even sketched his face onto one of the pages, and had written his name with red thread below it, sewing into the page. At first it was just fun to have a secret friend. Then she began to realize that it was not just friendship she wanted from Fink.

Any parent would tolerate an imaginary friend, even in a twelve year old. But would any parent tolerate an apparent obsession with a person who obviously could not exist? Or if this…Fink… did exist… And it was then that Elle began the treatments. They put her on medication; they sent her to the shrink, everything they could think of. But the medication could not erase the truth from Elle's mind and the shrink could not convince her that she was delusional.

It was only after Elle heard her parents discussing the possibility of sending her away (where she could only guess) did Elle start to agree with them. At least that's what she said.

She started telling the shrink he was right about her. She began to apologize to her parents for worrying them. While they watched her, she tore up her diary and threw it in their fireplace. She had to fight the tears as the sketch of Fink curled under the flames and disappeared. For two months now she had not taken her medication, it was hidden in a box between her mattresses. Everything was going fine in the Morgan house.

But not in Elle's mind.

And now it was Halloween.

And she was leaving this house. For good.

Elle shoved more of her clothes into her duffel bag. She had it all planned out.

There was a kid from school, Bobby Trielle, the same kid who had led her to Fink that night years ago, who had hit bottom a few years ago. He would do anything for drugs of any kind, and while Elle hated to feed his addiction, she needed his help like he needed the meds under her mattress.

Bobby would come to her window at 5:00 sharp; she would give him the duffel bag and a few other things and a quarter of the meds. He would take her bike and hide them in the cemetery. Then he'd take her bike to the corner of Grove St. and Heaven Wood Dr., where there were plenty of bushes, and hide it there. Tied to one of the interior branches would be a bag with another quarter of the meds. Elle had managed this picking Cherry up from school. He would then return to the cemetery and wait for Elle. Elle would take Cherry to her friend's Halloween party at 7:00. She would stay for a hour, and then give the adults the slip and escape. She'd grab her bike and haul to the cemetery. Bobby would get the rest of her meds when she got there and leave. Fink would come, she's go back with him, everything was perfect.

Elle smeared black eyeliner down across her cheek as she ran the plan over and over in her mind. She was always a jester, every year. Her red and blue satin costume hung in tatters in her closet. This year was an occasion, she was getting out. She had made a new costume. White, white satin with black diamonds over her chest and arms. The long sleeved tunic reached past her slim waist and divided into several short points around her lower stomach and rear end. A white collar covered her shoulders and extended into six corners with tiny bells on the end with dark midnight blue lining the edges of the collar. Black leggings hugged her hips down to her mid-calf, were the white satin laces of ballet dancing shoes met them and tied off into bows. Elle stood and looked at herself in the mirror.

Perfect. He'll love it.

On her vanity was her old patched blue and red satin jester's hat from years ago. She picked it up and set it firmly on her head. The colors had faded, and it was torn and patched and dirty and worn, but it was sewn up with red thread. It was the only thing that had kept her believing in Fink the past months. Every time she held it close and closed her eyes she saw him holding his bloodied hands out to her that first Halloween. The bloodstains on the hat were proof of his existence. She knew he was real. And now she'd be with him forever!

A knock on the window startled Elle out of her reverie. It was Bobby.

She opened the window and dropped the duffel bag into his waiting hands.

"Don't forget. I'll be at the cemetery around 9:30ish if you've put my bike in the right place. The stuff's there in the trees. Here's the first bit." She tossed him a small bag containing six pills. Bobby scrambled to pick it up and quickly downed on of the tiny blue pills. He nodded at her.

"Ok, I'll get your stuff there. You DO have the other half?" Elle reached into her costume and pulled out a bag with twelve blue pills and held it up for him to see. Then she replaced it and handed him another smaller bag.

"Get going Bobby. My bike's around the back of the garage. DO NOT let my parents see you. Go, quick. I'll see you at 9:30." She shut the window and watched as Bobby pocketed the bag of pills and lifted up Elle's bags. She watched him until he disappeared from sight around the corner of her house.

She sighed nervously and glance at the clock. 5:10pm. 9:30 was only four hours and twenty minutes off.

Give or take a year.

It was Halloween again, and Fink was eagerly awaiting sunset. Practically the whole town was bustling around his house, yelling, laughing, shouting instructions, trying on masks, costumes, flinging handfuls of candy. There was the same festival air that danced around the courtyard of the Skellington residence every Halloween since Fink had taken over the designing of Halloween festivities. Already he could hear the familiar chanting song being struck up by several of the younger, newer trick-or-treaters. But he motioned for them to be shushed. There would be time for that… but now…right now he wanted to revel in the glory of the Halloween he had created before it took to the streets and left him home alone for the seventeenth year running. He breathed in deeply and closed his eyes…

That was where Jack found him. Standing slightly removed from the chaos of the Halloweeners in the living room of the house, arms crossed over his chest, in his own little world. He looked so calm in the swirl of excitement that danced around him, not a tousled hair out of place. Jack smiled softly to himself as he gazed down at his son from his towering height. Fink was reminding him more and more of himself, many years ago when he had assumed his role as the Pumpkin King.

Every Halloween since the night Fink had mysteriously disappeared and reappeared had been nothing short of perfect. Fink's fresh ideas mixed with his father's ingenuity and expertise had created a string of the best Halloweens the town had seen since Jack's glory days a few years before the "incident." The years following Halloweentown's new start… After…

Jack shook his head clear before he ventured down a path in his past he had not visited in years. Back before he was Pumpkin King… Back when Halloweentown was a dark and evil place…

"Jack? Love, it's time." Sally placed cool hand on his arm, startling him out of his reverie. He looked down at her and smiled. She was his true love; she erased all the bad memories from his mind whenever he looked at her. She was his savior, even if she didn't know it. He took her hand and placed it in the crook of his right elbow and escorted her to where their son stood. With a pang of regret that he hastily swallowed and stuffed deep inside him, Jack shook Fink's shoulder gently.

"Son, we've got to get these guys moving out. They're liable to tear the house down if we keep them waiting ay longer!" A few spooks standing near them laughed. Jack smiled his wide charming grin and held up his free hand for silence. The noise in the room stilled and all of the excited Halloweeners turned expectant faces towards their King.

Jack looked over them all, his loyal subjects who had followed him through good and bad. This was the night they prepared for all year long, the night the children of Halloweentown looked forward to more then their own birthdays. The playful pageantry of Halloween that Jack and Fink had created was bubbling below the surface of the people of his town. It was their lifeblood, their reason to be. To go out in the world and do the thing they did best; to scare with joy and fun in mind. For this night they based their whole lives on, and now they waited on only the word of their King.

Jack's spine tingled with the rush of power he always felt just before the big show began. He lifted his shaky hand and picked up a lighted candle from a nearby table. The electricity in the room reached a peak. Fink felt the hair on his neck stand on end and something in his cuts went zap! Up and down his arms. Jack led Sally, with all the eyes of Halloweentown on the candle-flame, to a huge black Candle in the middle of the hall of their house. The creatures in the house rushed around them and filled the hall. Fink ambled slowly in after them, making his was to the stairs. He perched on the third stair up, surveying the scene below him with quiet pride. The Candle was his creation, his baby. He had worked on it all year, and it was no doubt, a Halloween masterpiece.

The Candle stood five feet high in the middle of the Skellington's hall. It was carved of jet-black wax and was more than a foot in diameter. Emerald green wax dragons of intricate detail surrounded the base for, their dull red eyes glazed and dead. Their bodies reached two feet out from the base of the candle, their tails, claws, and wings gleaming in the candlelight. Red and yellow and orange ribbons of the dragons' wax fire crawled up the sides of the black pillar. And at the very top, almost hidden in the wax, was a silver ribbon.

Jack walked to the candle, holding the lit taper aloft. Halloweentown became the calm before the storm as every person held his or her breath in anticipation. Jack looked around him one more time.

"Let Halloween…BEGIN!" He thrust the taper into the top of the candle. The creatures in the room gasped and leapt back as the Candle erupted in huge bursts of green and blue flames. The whole pillar of the Candle began to glow. The dragon's eyes flared a deep ruby red and in the flickering light of the flames they appeared to writhe and move around on the floor. The tongues of flame that appeared to leap from their mouths roared up the sides of the candle in a sudden rush that elicited not a few screams from the crowd. They the whole room began to cheer madly, wildly. As the dragon's flames had rushed up the candle, white, glowing images of every creature in Halloweentown appeared.

Jack felt a huge swelling of pride rise within him and threaten to burst through his chest. He turned to face his son, grinning like a maniac. Fink just waved at his father with a small smile of satisfaction. If Jack had possessed the ability to cry, he would have done so. Sally had a hand to her mouth staring at the Candle, looking dangerously close to either crying or bursting out laughing. The crowd around them, who had worked themselves into a veritable frenzy over the beginning of Halloween, driven by the adrenaline jolted into their systems by the Candle, had began to rush out the front door into the night. Their shrieks and squeals of joy and excitement began to fade away as the last of them trickled out the door.

Only Jack, Sally, and Fink were left in the house. The Candle's flames began to calm down after their initial burst. While they still retained their green-blue color, their flickering became less frantic and took on the personality of a quiet campfire. A kind of calm settled over the trio. Then Fink sighed and turned to walk up the stairs.

"You guys better get going, they won't wait for you." This was the part he hated most. He loved the chance to see Elle. But more than anything he wished just once that his father and mother would grab his hands and throw him head long into the streets of Halloweentown with Shock and all his other friends. But he knew each year his mother would kiss him on the cheek and hug him gingerly, his father would nod stone-faced at him, and they'd both walk out the door arm in arm. It was the same every year… At least he knew Elle was coming…

Jack bowed his head. The joy inside of him ebbed away slightly.

"Fink, this was magnificent, sweetheart it really was!" Sally bubbled. "You really made your father and me proud tonight. Didn't he Jack? Jack?" Jack's he slowly lifted towards his son.

"You really did Fink. It was fantastic" For a moment father and son's eyes met and both understood the feeling of the other. The son who wanted his father's approval and the father who did know how to show his son he had it. Utter quiet reigned in the house. Sally stood looking between the two, hardly daring to breathe and interrupt their moment. Then Fink shut his eyes.

"Have fun, Dad." He turned back and ran up the stairs. Jack heard everything he didn't say. Have fun…without him… Jack squeezed his own eyes tight almost in pain. It was his fault, if only he had been more careful with him…if only… if only…

Once again Sally saved him from himself. She laid a comforting hand on his shoulder and tugged him out of his misery.

"He's so wonderful isn't he Jack? Your son is the most wonderful thing that you ever made for this town. And the people know it." She smiled up at him. "He wants us to have fun. Let's do it for him. Besides, we have to keep those crazy people out there in line don't we?"

Jack finally met her smile with his. He leaned down and kissed her forehead. Taking her hand, he led her out the door. He laid his hand on the doorknob and looked back just in time to see Fink try to hide himself around the corner of the stair landing. Jack smiled to himself.

"Goodbye son," He called back to the "empty" room. Then, much, much quieter, "I love you…" and shut the door. The house, shut off now from the lights outside, became filled with the glorious light from the Candle. The shadows flitted across Fink's face as he slid down the wall into a sitting position. How long he stayed there he didn't know, but the Candle began to douse itself with its own wax when he finally shook himself and rose to go to his bedroom.

He reached down under his bed and pulled out a rope ladder.

"I can just walk out the door… they're not even here…" He thought to himself. But even the logic of his seventeen-year-old brain could not deny him the childlike sense of adventure that came along with escaping from him bedroom window by the ladder. He gathered a few items from around his room and stuffed them into a backpack before opening his window and throwing down the ladder. Out the window, down the ladder, across the grass in a crouched run, over the stone wall, and into the shadows. Fink stole quietly away from the Halloween festivities, unknowingly to a rendezvous with fate.

A pair of red eyes watched Jack and Sally leave the house. He saw the ladder tumble from Fink's bedroom window and Fink escaping into the night. He could not suppress the bolt of excitement that shivered down his back as he realized his goal was so very near; his victory was at hand….

Lock gripped the red devil's mask in his hand as he peered through the darkness. Towards the lighted streets of the town, at the blissfully ignorant people in those streets. He was almost done with his part of the deal… one more thing to do and then kick back and let Fink deliver Elle right to him. It was perfect…perfect…

* * *

Bum bum BUM! Hold onto your socks boys and girls! This is gonna be good! 


	8. Beginning of the End

Ok guys, this chapter is an extemely horrible, extremely short little cliffhanger. I hate to do this to you guys, I really do, but college is a monsterous bitch and this was kind of an "DJ needs to arrange her thoughts now, but her Psychology reading needs to get done." So at least I'll set you up for what's going to happen before I need to do homework again... But the next chapter will be much longer and much more exciting, I promise! Thanks so much to all my reviewers, you guys are my inspiration!

Luv Ya!

-the DJ

* * *

The moon rose high over Halloweentown as Fink crept away. In the distance he could hear the music of the Halloween song playing in the town. The townspeople, still too full of the adrenaline and electricity that Fink's pre-celebration show had elicited, had not even begun to creep into the human world to scare yet. They remained in the town, dancing with each other in the streets, working themselves up into a further frenzy of excitement before they would make their plunge into the realm of humans. Fink gave a wry smile and he turned back to look at his town glowing in the combined gleam of firelight and moonlight. A few hours later he would wish he had run back to join them all, but wishing would do him no good. His last memory of glowing Halloweentown, burned into his brain, far from him and utterly out of his reach, he turned his back on it and went on into the cemetery to where someone would accept him.

* * *

Lock peering into the gloom and watchedthe tiny figure of Fink in the distance pause and look back. Lock scoffed.

"Sentimental little baby…" Then as Fink disappeared over the ridge into the cemetery, Lock's devil smile widened. His four shadow officers inched back as they watched him transform from just a mischievous little imp into a full blow evil demon, with only the crossing of a wicked smile across his features and a cold glint that came into his eyes.

Suddenly, the smile vanished, leaving only the cold gleam. Lock's eyes became glazed over. And oppressive quiet settled over the group.

"Zentalis is speaking to him…" One of the officers breathlessly whispered.

"Ah…then we should be moving out soon." Another said quietly. The third nodded at Lock.

"Do you trust this boy? Does Zentalis? Putting our entire plan in the hands of someone so unstable is-"

"Shshshssshhh!" The fourth shadow hissed. The first placed a firm hand on his companion's shoulder.

"It is not our place to question Zentalis. He has his reasons I'm sure…" He let his train of thought die as Lock shook himself out of the trance-like state speaking with Zentalis by telepathy put him in. He glanced up at his officers. His face was stony as he stared at them. Perhaps in the back of his mind, the small part of him that still belonged to him was crying for him to run and forego the whole plan. Perhaps he remembered that Halloweentown had been his haven all of his life, perhaps he was thinking of all the innocent people. But whatever thoughts of pity crossed his mind were quickly doused as he smiled his demon-smile and winked at the officers.

"Zentalis has given the order….to move out." The four shadow officers quickly bowed and glided down the hill to the waiting army of shadows. Hundreds of shadows quickly split into four groups and began to move out towards Halloweentown.

Lock watched them march below him. He could not believe the luck. The stupid townspeople were actually staying in the town. Fink had practically handed them over on a silver platter, jazzing them up like this. If they had rushed out of town to scare right away, it would have been nearly impossible to round them up. The last thing Lock needed was for Jack Skellington to have a small army of his devoted followers at his back.

Lock closed his eyes and ran Zentalis' plan over in his head one last time. He could still hear Zentalis' voice, as smooth and oily as snakes crawling through your fingers,

"The shadows will take up their positions out of sight around town. After you see Jack's brat leave for the cemetery, go into town and find our Pumpkin King. Let it slip that Fink has escaped his house. Remember, you are just concerned for his safety, of course (snicker). Skellington will undoubtedly run back to his house to check on your statement. Then we will have him. Signal the shadows immediately and we will take down all of Halloweentown with one swift stroke. The shadows will kill any Halloweentowner who resists. I will face Jack Skellington and we will see victory this night." The yellow eyes flashed.

"And then?" Lock had asked, the anticipation tingling in his voice. In the present time the daydreaming Lock repeated the question, this time with desperate excitement.

"And then?" Zentalis' bored voice floated to him.

"And then you wait for the son to bring your blushing beauty to you and our bargain is complete. Do with the boy as you will. I have promised no hurt to him."

Lock's blood had rushed. Now his heart seemed to labor with the intensity of this moment, this speck of time when all his dreams would come true. He was the tool for taking down Halloweentown. Zentalis would reward him with Elle, and with power. Now all of Halloweentown would respect him and no one would dare reject him.

Lock smiled a cruel smile.

'On pain of death' he thought to himself, his smile growing wider. Then it twisted into a painful grimace and he doubled over clutching his head. He groaned in agony as something from within tried to push its way out. He thought he heard Shock and Barrel, his loyal friends, calling his name in voices thick with tears. He shook his head from side to side trying to banish the pain.

Then as quickly as it had come, the anguish was gone. Lock stood straight again, glancing around him apprehensively. Then he squared his shoulders and looked towards Halloweentown. He nodded to himself.

"Now." He affirmed to the moon and stars. He lifted his devil mask to his face and tightened the leather strap that was now strung across the back to fit his head. One more nod to the sky, and Lock descended the hill into Halloweentown and black destiny.

* * *

Elle had peddled her heart out to the cemetery. Now, now, now was the time! She had hardly glanced around her as she traveled down the darkened streets of her hometown, so intent was she on reaching the cemetery. She hadn't even looked back when she had left her little sister. Straight on ahead… soon she's be with Fink.

Her breath came in short pants as the excitement of escape rose within her. The dark cemetery had long ago ceased to frighten her and now she looked on it as her refuge as she sat within the shadows of a tomb. She glanced at her watch again. The hands seemed to crawl around the face at an excruciatingly slow pace. Only an hour or so more and she could kiss this whole sucky world goodbye!

* * *

Deep within the caverns far outside the borders of Halloweentown, a huge blue fire crackled. Yellow eyes reflected the leaping flames. A white hand swirled a glass of wine… or was it blood? The glass was raised to pale lips which parted to receive their fill. The glass lowered to a small table next to the chair in which the man sat. The pale lips curled into a cruel, scrolling grin. One cold word split the silent air in the tomb-like room. 

"Finally."


	9. Betrayal Part1

Ok, I love being a Theatre Major... but Argh with the rehearsals! I have the rehearsal schedule from HELL! Anyway, new Chapter makes me go Yay! Now, I kind of promised myself that I wouldn't leave you with another cliffhanger chapter, and I was actually working on this one and it was much longer, but then my computer froze and I lost a good two hours worth of my work. I almost cried for you guys, I really did. This is the part that was already saved so... Sorry for the suspense. I promise I'll have Betrayal Part2 up ASAP, my show opens next week so I won't have things to worry about! Thanks for your reviews guys, I really appreciate them! You have no idea how much they make me want to write more for you! Happy Reading!

-DJ

* * *

Lock passed through the gates of Halloweentown just as he had almost every single day of his life. This time, no Shock or Barrel strode at his sides. There was no sound of Shock's heavy boots in his ear, nor of Barrel's shuffling quickstep. There was only the click of his own red boots against the cobblestone path. He felt alone, but this was a feeling he had become accustomed to, no matter how untrue it was. He walked on, shoulders back, every muscle in his body tensed. He was strangely calm, so calm he almost frightened himself. But there was work to be done. So close… so very close to the end of all of this…

He turned a corner and was forced to stop. The gaiety of the Halloween celebration in the town square was before him. The light, laughter, song, and frivolity of the townspeople had a power all its own and for a minute he stood, entranced. He watched the faces of the new trick-or-treaters, eager to begin their hunt. Torchlight flickered over the smiling faces of the crowd, illuminating the joy and passion that was shining through their eyes. Here were the vampires, preparing for a night of a different kind of hunting. Here were the witches, brooms at the ready, about to take the sky and own to moon. The clown, ready to hide in closets or pop round corners. The werewolf stood off to one side, near where Lock stood, doing voice exercises to prepare for a long night of howling. The devil-man had his bag of tricks. Not a single one of them had their minds on anything else but Halloween. Not a single one of them had any idea, could have had any idea, of what was waiting for them.

Lock came suddenly face-to-face with the realization that this was the end of Halloween as he had known it all his life. In an hour, perhaps a little more, this street would be empty, and there would never be such celebration. The thought of that, combined with the knowledge that it was he that would be the cause of this downfall of innocence, spread through his veins like fire. He was almost drunk with the euphoria that seized him suddenly, but he stepped with confidence out into the throng. He tried, oh he tried, to push his way past the people, to shake the drunkenness off of him and continue on with his mission. But when a pair of pretty young witches took hold of his hands and drew him into the circle of trick-or-treaters, he couldn't resist the pull any longer…

He couldn't help it; he was a part of the Halloween magic that had held him his whole life. He grasped the hands of the younger trick-or-treaters and allowed himself to be pulled into their circling dance. Round and round and round, faces and colors flashing past him in the firelight. He closed his eyes and spun out of the circle, the laughter filling his ears, and danced through the streets with the others. Swirling, twirling, spinning, a smile playing over his features, hidden behind his mask. He flung his arms out and spun towards the edge of the square in a gradually slowing frenzy. In a haze, he stopped his spinning at the edge of the throng. He opened his eyes, glazed and unfocused, and gazed back on the scene before him. He looked unseeing at the blurred figures before him. He saw two figures gliding at the edge of his vision, across the square; one with red hair and pale skin and one three heads taller than anyone in the crowd…

Lock's mouth split into an awed, drunken smile as the crowd before him cheered and bowed… and then slowly, low and soft, oh so softly… his voice rose unheard by anyone but himself.

"In this town… we call home, everyone hail to the pumpkin song…" The vapor of the song traced the inside of his mask like an exotic perfume, suddenly so sharp and bittersweet that is physically hurt to breathe. In an instant Lock's vision sharpened and his head snapped back into reality. The mission, the mission, how could he almost have let it go? He growled as he mentally berated himself. His eyes followed Jack and Sally as they paraded arm in arm through the townspeople. Lock clenched his fists and thrust himself back into the crowd. The spell was broken, and all feelings of inclusion that this Halloween had given him were gone. He was again alone in the surging sea of creatures, totally bent on his mission.

Jack stood smiling, oblivious to the approaching footfalls of doom barely audible within the sounds of the Halloween celebration. It was a hollow smile, making him look for once like a real skeleton, empty and dead. His thoughts lingered on Fink, no matter how much he tried to push him from his mind. The only thing keeping his face in a smile, however fake it was, was Sally's strong soft hand on his arm. He felt the satiny fingers of her left hand reach over and caress his bony right hand. He looked down at the top of her head and his smile became slightly more genuine. He breathed in Halloween and though he did not know it, the spark of it began to gleam deep within the hollows where his eyes should have been. Glancing around, he caught sight of Shock and Barrel directing the town's little trick-or-treaters. He smiled.

'Those two may be mischievous, but they're good kids… And they were good to Fink.' He began to turn his head back to the front and pass by.

'I wonder, however, where-' He was cut short in his thoughts as Lock appeared in front of him abruptly. Jack and Sally stopped in the road.

For an instant, Jack and Lock considered each other in silence. In the silence, two thoughts flitted across their eyes.

'Where has that one been? I haven't seen him in forever'

'….I will break you.'

Barrel tapped Shock rapidly on the shoulder.

"Shock! It's Lock!" Shock stood up straight from where she had been bent fixing a trick-or-treater's costume, a bit of thread dangling from her mouth. She clutched her scissors and spool in a fistful of cloth scraps. She watched the small staring contest between Lock and the Pumpkin King. Suddenly something tugged at her insides.

Shock was a witch. Not a very good one, not even a practicing one really. But she _was_ a witch. And all witches, good or evil, can sense a plot brewing, no matter how well concealed or secret. But Shock, being so untrained and unpracticed, couldn't see the depth of it. She only felt this strange, insistent tugging within her when she looked at Lock silently gazing back at the King of Halloweentown.

She dropped her sewing supplies and grabbed onto Barrel's hand. Barrel looked down at the contact in surprise and then back up at Shock's face, a soft heat creeping into his cheeks. But at the stricken look written across her plain features, he quickly swallowed that… whatever it was that had suddenly lodged itself in his throat (what that his heart settling back into place?) and looked at her with concern.

"Shock?" He asked. Shock pressed her lips together.

"Something's… wrong… B." She said. "Come on." She pulled him towards Jack and Lock. Barrel, completely confused and still very aware of his hand in hers, stumbled after her.

Sally looked from Jack to Lock. Feeling not a little bit awkward, she cleared her throat with a small cough. Then she smiled nervously and stepped forward.

"Lock! We haven't seen much of you lately, how wonderful you've decided to come to the celebration this year." Jack broke the stare and glanced down at Sally before looking up again at Lock with a warm smile on his face.

"Most definitely my boy. You are always welcome here. I'm sure we've missed you!" Both the witch standing near enough to hear the conversation and Lock sneered in disbelief. Lock quickly banished his and reached behind his head to take off his mask. He unhooked the strap and brought the mask slowly down to rest near his side in his hand.

Sally's eyes went wide and she gasped and jumped back, placing her other hand on Jack's arm for support. Jack couldn't look away. Lock was not the same little boy that had terrorized Halloweentown. His bright yellow eyes seemed to pierce Jack's. He bowed slightly.

"I thank you, You're Highness" He resisted the urge to wince at the title. He bit his tongue and came up out of his bow. "But I'm here strictly on urgent b-"

"Lock!" Shock came running up with Barrel tripping behind her. Lock's stomach dropped to his feet. He ground his teeth together.

'Shit.' Shock stopped in front of Lock.

"…Hi Lock..." Lock fixed her with his yellow gaze.

"Hello Shock…It's good to see you…"

'You aren't supposed to be here… Why the hell aren't you at the tree house!' Barrel glanced between the two.

"Hey buddy, what's up? You never come to the celebration. This is…"

'This is strange'

"…this is pretty cool."

"Yeah, it looks great…"

'It's going to burn in ten minutes'

"We really miss you Lock, I'm glad you're here"

'Then why do I feel like my insides are being ripped out every time I look at you?'

"Yeah we both are"

'…There's something wrong here…'

Then they were silent. Jack suddenly realized that Sally had a death grip on his arm. He looked down at her. She was staring at Lock with wide eyes crowded with conflicting emotions of dread, disgust, but above all, fear. Her light body was shaking, but her hands were wrapped so tightly around Jack's arm that the seams across her knuckles were being pulled open across her stuffing of dead leaves. Jack placed a hand over one of hers in concern.

"Sally? Are you ok sweetheart? Sally?" He leaned down to look at her. She shook her head stiffly and slowly.

"No Jack. None of us are ok."

"Sally, what…?" Lock suddenly realized how very close he might be to failing.

"You're Highness!" He said, a little too loudly and a little too quickly. Everyone swiveled their heads back at him. His lower lip twitched once, his sense of purpose temporarily lost in his haste and embarrassment.

This was it, the moment on which everything hinged. The air seemed to freeze and become choking. There was no turning back after this point. After this, the tiny stone Lock loosed would start the avalanche and very nearly everything he had ever known would be wiped off the map. Could he do this? Could he destroy everything, would he take that leap?

…..

"I… I think there's something wrong with Fink."

* * *

Don't forget to check back soon for Part 2! It'll be a good one. And very long hopefully. Much love! 


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